Tuesday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time
Rm 8:18-25
Lk 13:18-21
“It is like a mustard seed.”
In ancient Israel, the mustard tree is not a tree. It is more like a big shrub. It is smaller compared to the olive tree, which is a true tree. Yet in today’s gospel, Jesus chose the mustard seed to illustrate the kingdom of God. This piqued my curiosity, as I always thought he wanted to show how the smallest can become so big. So I did some research and learned the following.
Mustards are one of the fastest growing plants out there. Once seeded, their roots grow firmly into the ground within four to five weeks. They become fully mature within 80 to 90 days and produce fruit. Thereafter, Jesus expects it to provide shelter to the birds.
This fact gives me a whole new perspective to this well known parable. If Jesus just wanted a big tree, the olive would be best. However it is extremely slow growing. The first fruits only appear after 3 or 4 years. It needs at least 10 years to mature. Jesus chose the mustard seed because he expects our faith, once planted, to mature fast and firm, ready to be useful in his kingdom.
As a born Catholic, my faith is not like the mustard seed. It is definitely the olive tree variety. I only attended weekday mass and prayed the entire rosary after my marriage (the wife said I must do!). I was 29 years old. At age 46, I did my first bible study by enrolling in the Bible Adventure Series held at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM). Again, my wife brought me there. She wanted us to do a weekly couple activity. It was great. I loved history and the activity was free, unlike going to ‘romantic’ dinners. At age 50, we both signed up to be a mentor couple for Marriage Preparation Course. This time, I brought my wife. Only then did I fulfil part of the mustard seed parable. My faith had become useful to Jesus’s kingdom. I was helping Catholics and non Catholics, just like the mustard tree providing shelter to the birds.
Today’s gospel also has the parable of the yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened. Leaven is a substance that works from inside the flour. I believe this parable is about how the gospel changes our faith inwardly. The more we read, understand and increase our bible knowledge, the better we become.
Recently, I bought a fascinating book titled ‘Where God Came Down’. Its author, Joel Kramer, is an archaeologist who uses this field to prove events recorded in the bible as fact. One of the chapters was a godsend, as it cleared a lingering doubt of mine. In 2018, I went to Jerusalem with a friend. At the Holy Sepulchre Church (Catholic traditional burial site of Jesus) we did a historical tour and found out there was another site called the Garden Tomb. Christians visit this site and claimed that it is the true Golgotha. It is undisputed that Jesus’ crucifixion occurred outside the city. Yet, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is clearly within the old city walls. In contrast, the garden tomb lies 1 kilometre outside the Damascus Gate Wall, on a hill that really does look like a skull. I went there and have been troubled by this issue. Fortunately, Joel Kramer provided archaeological evidence in support of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He showed that in Jesus’ time, the location was indeed outside the original city walls and was also a burial ground with skeletons that showed signs of crucifixion.
I am now motivated to transform my Catholic faith at ‘mustard seed’ pace.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Andrew Sia)
Prayer: Lord, help me to love you with all my being.
Thanksgiving: Thanks be to you for our faith. Help me bring this message to as many people as possible.
OXYGEN 
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